Layou will join the list of dilapidated police stations in St. Vincent and the Grenadines whose staff have been moved to houses or other buildings.
Central Leeward MP, Orando Brewster, said that the Unity Labour Party (ULP) government will acquire land near the police station to expand it as part of the renovation, but did not give a timeline of when this will be done.
When the police station is moved to a house, it would mean that Central Leeward, the only constituency with two towns, will also have both of its police stations in temporary locations.
In February 2021, the Barrouallie Police Station was moved from the historic building in which it was located to a house in Peters Hope, on the outskirts of the town.
Then, on May 30, 2024, Commissioner of Police Enville Williams said the police station will be relocated to the heart of the Central Leeward town, but this has yet to be done.
Speaking on Boom FM, Brewster said that the government has allocated money from the Saudi Fund to renovate police stations across SVG.
“Layou, I spoke about it in budget. Barrouallie, we spoke about that,” Brewster said.
“The guy who’s running against me, he’s going around saying, ‘Look at the condition of the old Barrouallie Police Station’, which is not situated there anymore.”
The MP said that the site of the Barrouallie Police Station borders the beach and “the water table is already underneath the station.
“You cannot put back a structure there; you’re going to be jeopardising — you could be in the police station and water come up based on how the water table operates underneath of the structure.
“You cannot put a proper septic system there, because if the water table is going to encroach in that sewer system, you’re going to have the same problems of backing up in the sewer system.”
Brewster said that the government was building out the Barrouallie Community Centre to house the police station in that town.
“Let me tell you, action speaks louder than words,” Brewster said, adding that the government has selected a contractor to work on the Layou Police Station.
“… what we’re doing in Layou, and this is what people don’t understand. Layou is going to be expanded. So, there’s no need to just fix up the middle section. We are acquiring lands on both sides so that we can have a bigger police station,” the MP said.
Brewster suggested that the renovated police station would have provisions for a fire tender, adding that the government is decentralising the Fire Brigade.
“So, we have to expand some of the stations in the rural areas, so at least they can have a fire tender there…”
Brewster said that the Layou Police Station would move to a house in the interim.
“We have been looking for alternatives within the constituency. We looked at the Learning Resource Centre, which is a government facility, but it is not adequate to house the police. So, the only thing we can do is find a proper building that can house all of the police at one point in time.”
He said the government has not identified the specific house, adding, “We have a couple persons that we’re working with.”
Brewster said that the Layou Magistrate’s Court will be housed, temporarily, in the resource centre.
“That’s an enclosed area. You could have a magistrate’s court here. It’s not a big setting,” he said, adding that the centre also houses a money transfer service, banking service and adult and continuing education programme.
Currently, the Police Training School and the Spring Village, Colonarie and Paget Farm police stations, are also located in temporary accommodation.
Police stations, hospital , clinics, schools, roads, like everything ah rotten down , like maintainance ah foreign word., shameful, such a disgrace.
His time in office is up….It’s disgraceful how police are living and working in those conditions. He is belatedly coming with this election gimmick because they have been exposed for the Neglect in that constituency.